Conceptual Management Tools A Guide to Essential Models for Knowledge Workers Martin J. Eppler Number: HSG/MCM/CC EKM/20 Version: 3.6 Date: November 2000 Size: 38 pages ISBN: 3-9 06979-01-6 University of St. Gallen – Hochschule für Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Sozialwissenschaften (HSG) mcm institute for Media and Communications Management Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8 CH-9000 St. Gallen Switzerland Tel.: +41 (71) 224 2297 Fax: +41 (71) 224 2771 E-Mail: [email protected] URLs: http://www.mcm.unisg.ch http://www.knowledgemedia.org Director: Prof. Dr. Beat Schmid Conceptual Management Tools 1 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary........................................................................................................ 2 2 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Background: Thinking Tools............................................................................................ 3 2.2 Goals of Conceptual Management Tools.......................................................................... 6 2.3 Situations for Conceptual Tool Use.................................................................................. 7 2.4 Principles of Conceptual Tools......................................................................................... 8 2.5 Selection Criteria for the Tool Directory........................................................................ 17 3 Survey: A Conceptual Management Tool Directory................................................. 18 4 Evaluation...................................................................................................................... 25 4.1 Tool Clustering... ............................................................................................................ 25 4.2 Evaluation Questions...................................................................................................... 26 4.3 Quality Criteria for Conceptual Tools ............................................................................ 26 4.4 Future Requirements....................................................................................................... 27 5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 28 6 References...................................................................................................................... 29 7 Web Guide..................................................................................................................... 35 Conceptual Management Tools 2 1 Executive Summary Overview The executive summary briefly explains the nature of conceptual management tools (by providing a working definition) and their application areas. It highlights the main principles behind this kind of tool and points at its limits. Rationale Knowledge work consists of non-routine, complex tasks which involve the use of large quantities of (often incomplete or ambiguous) information, both as inputs and outputs of work processes. Thus, knowledge workers need tools that add value and context to information as they work with it. These tools should reduce complexity through aggregation, organize information through categorization, and make options for action systematically visible. New and old tools Some of these tools, like Cartesian coordinate systems, have been used for a while within the realm of management, while others, like the integration map or the strategic game board, have only been in use for a short period of time. The following definition establishes a common denominator for these traditional and recent ‘thinking instruments’: Definition A conceptual management tool is a structured, model based way of proceeding to improve the problem solving or decision making process either individually or for a group in an organizational context. A conceptual tool achieves this by providing thought structures, action steps, and representation formats to facilitate convergent (analytical) or divergent (creative) thinking. Review of 34 tools In total, thirty-five such tools will be explained in this paper. Six of them have been invented by the author (OnTrack, Integration Map, Expert Web, Me Map, Personal Information-Portfolio, Synergy Map). All of them rely on the following five principles that make them valuable for knowledge work: Conceptual 1. Categorization: the tools frame issues into terms that separate the essential Principles from the peripheral. 2. Visualization: they transform situations or sequences into graphic forms. 3. Aggregation: they combine many pieces of data into manageable chunks. 4. Elicitation: they provide mechanisms to make implicit knowledge explicit. 5. Guidance: they provide a step-by-step method to gain insights into a problem. Conclusion The thirty-five conceptual tools presented in this paper offer a variety of ways to improve managerial problem solving and decision processes. Although all the presented tools rely on the same five basic principles, their application varies widely with the problem at hand (i.e., convergent versus divergent) and the working context or situation (i.e., individual or team problems). Conceptual Management Tools 3 2 Introduction Overview The introduction outlines the rationale, the background, and the goals of conceptual management tools. It presents some common situations where they can be applied. The basic principles behind conceptual management tools are discussed. 2.1 Background: Thinking Tools Motivation This guide is based on the premise that managerial work is increasingly becoming conceptual. Managers will have to rely more and more on their interpretation, analysis and questioning skills than on their prior knowledge and experience, as their environment becomes increasingly turbulent. JERRY RHODES, conceptual toolmaker and management scholar, thus rightly claims that the future belongs to the conceptual manager. In his acclaimed study on conceptual management, he concludes the following: “Conceptualizing is surely the art of the future: not only the skill that managers will need in future, but the skill of handling the 1 future itself.” Three levels of RHODES distinguishes three levels of thinking tools (of which conceptual tools thinking tools can be viewed as a sub-group).2 On the first level, he sees ‘ideas about ideas’, that is to say models of mind, general heuristics, principles or scripts. Organizational psychologists frequently refer to this kind of “tool” as theories- of-action or local theories.3 On a second, more pragmatic level, are creative instruments or conceptual checklists, like worksheets or specific thinking procedures that are used to determine the relevance of data. On a third and final level, RHODES positions thinking tools that are concrete, task-specific practical procedures, worksheets or matrices. The tools that are discussed in this guide can be grouped within the second and third level of thinking tools distinguished by RHODES. The term conceptual tool is thus only used for thinking tools of level two and three as exhibit 1 illustrates. Most of the tools presented in this guide are not specific for one certain task and widely applicable. Some of them, however, such as the strategic game board, the Me Map, or the five forces model, have a limited range of 1 See Rhodes/Toolmaking, p. 21. For that point see also: Morris & Meed & Svensen/Intelligent Manager. 2 See Rhodes/Toolmaking, p. 38. 3 See Walsh/Cognition or Klimecki et al./Perspektiven. Conceptual Management Tools 4 applications (in the first and last example within the realm of strategic management). Further limitations to their use will be discussed in section four. Examples Attributes • Models of mind • thought structures • Heuristics • abstract and timeless Principles • Rules of thumb Level 1 • Thinking pro- • thought structures cedures • action steps • Creativity tools • generic presentation Level 2 format Conceptual • thought structures Tools • Task checklists • action steps • Sector mapping • specific pre- Level 3 • Domain matrix sentation format Exhibit 1: The three levels of thinking tools Elements of As the definition in the executive summary has pointed out, the conceptual conceptual tools tools discussed in this guide do not only provide thought structures (as the first type of thinking tool would), but also action steps, and presentation formats. They provide tangible frameworks for systematic thinking and are not limited to purely cognitive heuristics. A brief example can illustrate this important difference. Examples of the Thinking backwards or starting with the ends in mind, is a thinking tool of the three tool levels first level. Starting with the ends instead of the means is a general heuristic or rule of thumb that many managers use. Like a mountain climber, they trace Level 1: their way backwards from the peak, or the final goal, to the current state or the ‘backwarding’ present position. By the help of this thought structure (also known as the backwarding heuristic), they may be able to re-construct the many small steps that are necessary to reach the desired goal and hence devise an action plan. A thinking tool of the second level, thus a conceptual tool, consists of a more Level 2: relevance specific procedure that nevertheless follows the same idea of starting with the tree or pyramid end. An example of such a tool is the pyramid principle where the final answer principle is taken as a starting point or a hypothesis